UEFA Forum
A dream come true
The final round of the 7th edition of the
European Championship in women's Football
will take place in Norway and Sweden from 29
June to 12 July 1997. The UEFA President
Lennart Johansson drew the two groups at a
ceremony in the Nordic Hallen in Sundsvall,
some 300 kilometres north of Stockholm, prior
to the friendly match between Sweden and
Norway. And he became more popular in his
native country by drawing Sweden together
with Russia, Spain and France in Group A.
Norway, top-seeded in Group B, was grouped
with Italy, Germany and Denmark. "To be
honest, this was exactly the draw that I dreamt
about", the Swedish national team coach,
Marika Domanski-Lyfors, said. But immediately
she added: "This does not mean that I expect
an easy route to the semi-finals."
Per-Mathias Hogmo, head coach of the
Norwegian national team, which defeated
Germany in the final of the World Championship
in Sweden in 1995, would happily have swop
ped groups with the Swedish coach. "We
couldn't have got a more difficult draw," he
said. "It will be extremely tough, but also very
exciting, and if we still make it to the final, nobo
dy could ask for a better promotion of the final
match. In other words: it would then be a sell
out."
The final will be played at Ulleval in Oslo. The
capacity is reduced to 23,000 seats due to the
final rebuilding of the Norwegian national stadi
um. The matches in Group A will take place in
Karlstad and Kariskoga in Sweden and the
matches in Group B in Lillestrom and Moss in
Norway. In the friendly match in Sundsvall,
Norway beat Sweden 2-0 with goals from Linda
Medalen and Hege Riise in front of 1,463 spec
tators. It was Norway's first-ever win against
Sweden in Sweden.
MATCH SCHEDULE
Sunday 29 June 1997
Group A France v Spain Kariskoga
Sweden v Russia Karlstad
Monday 30 June 1997
Group B Germany v Italy Moss
Denmark v Norway Lillestrom
Wednesday 2 July 1997
Group A Spain v Sweden Kariskoga
Russia v France Karlstad
Thursday 3 July 1997
Group B Italy v Denmark Lillestrom
Norway v German Moss
Saturday 5 July 1997
Group A Russia v Spain Kariskoga
Sweden v France Karlstad
Sunday 6 July 1997
Group B Norway v Italy Lillestrom
Denmark v Germany Moss
Wednesday 9 July 1997
Semi-final Winner A v Runners-up B Karlstad
Semi-final Winner B v Runners-up A Lillestram
Saturday 12 July
The Final Winners of the semi-finals Ulleval/Oslo
Gnjup A
"Thank you, Mr. President," Marika Domanski-
Lyfors, head coach of Sweden's National Team,
was very pleased about how UEFA's president,
Lennart Johansson, drew the two groups for the
Final Round of the European Championship
PHOTO: BJ0RN TILLY/BILDBYRAN
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